CircleID

In its February 18, 2005 press release, WIPO has reported filing an average of 3.4 UDRP and UDRP-based cases per calendar day in 2004, bringing the total number of cases received in 2004 to 1,179 — an increase of 79 cases (or 6.6%) as compared to 2003. Also mentioned in the report is a 37 percent increase in ccTLDs cases over the previous year.

Listed below are a number of additional facts and figures reported by WIPO for 2004:

• Of the total of 7,010 UDRP and UDRP-based cases the Center has received, 6,783 (96.76%) have been resolved. In the 5,414 decisions they have rendered, WIPO panels have found for the complainant in 4,512 (83.3%) cases. The remainder of the resolved cases were settled by the parties.

• WIPO's UDRP and UDRP-based cases filed since 1999 have by now covered over 12,500 separate domain names.

• In addition to famous brands (recent WIPO cases include the domain names 'weathernetwork.com', 'yahoojobs.com', 'aventisdirect.com', '3mworldwide.com', and 'bmw1.com'), celebrities continue to be targeted by cybersquatters. Often decisions favoring celebrities were based on common law rights in their names rather than on a registered trademark. In 2004, the Center received cases relating to movies, authors and books (JK Rowling, the Fast and the Furious), pop stars (Eminem, Pat Benetar, and Lloyd Banks), television shows (Fat Actress), and movie personalities (Spike Lee, Robert Downey Jr.). Sports figures (Freddy Adu and Ronaldhino) and sporting events (Orange Bowl) were also the target of cybersquatters.

• Most disputes concern international domains, with .com representing over 80% of names involved. However, in 2004 the Center also dealt with 70 cases involving country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), a 37 percent increase over the previous year. Examples have included the domain names 'unimelb.com.au', 'ebay.ie', and 'hotmail.com.ph'. The Center now provides services for disputes in 43 ccTLDs, including .au (Australia), .mx (Mexico) and .nl (Netherlands). New additions in 2004 include .ch (Switzerland), .fr (France) and .ir (Iran), to which the Center also rendered advice and assistance in the drafting of their dispute resolution policies.

• Domain names themselves are also be presented in different scripts, such as Chinese, Cyrillic or Korean. The Center has handled 50 such "multilingual name" disputes so far, with further growth expected as the Internet becomes increasingly multilingual.

The full report is located here. All domain name decisions handled by the Center are indexed and published on the Center's website.

By CircleID Reporter

Related topics: Cybercrime, Cybersquatting, DNS, Domain Names, Law, Multilinguism, Top-Level Domains